El Dorado Irrigation Board of Directors Ignores Hostile Work Environment

The following is an Anonymous comment that was posted to the blog on 6/23/07. The writer so eloquently describes the situation at EID that I could not pass up using it for a posting. To whoever wrote this, thank you for your comments.

Is this America or a “Day on the Beach” experience somewhere out-of-the-country?

To those of us ordinary employees, it is clear EID’s conscience has vanished, while the Board lumbers in a perpetual state of unconsciousness. The atmosphere is dark and foreboding. Paranoia runs rampant resulting in covering behinds and covering-up. Trust, respect and confidence have disappeared, being replaced with suspicion and callousness. Ordinary employees are no longer valued and are only pawns in a strange chess game guised as reorganization to sustain the GM’s intended state of confusion.

There is a known phenomenon where organizations take on the personality of their leader, and EID’s leader goes into tirades often, bangs on office doors, shouts at the top of her lungs, and pushes people around. The most recent episode occurred in the presence of the ordinary working staff in Finance, requiring Mr. Cumpston to direct personnel to exit their work stations and move to the other side of the building. It seems he may have been concerned about their safety, but more likely trying to keep a lid on an already explosive situation. This is not the first time and won’t be the last that the GM has exhibited irrational and violent behavior. Who knows what a person is capable of when they explode.

Those unfortunate to become victims of her holocaust are held in contempt and considered guilty until proven innocent. Some are sentenced to house arrest known as Administrative Leave that may go on for days or several months, with or without pay. Verdicts may lead to the firing squad with personal escorts out the door, or others must endure harsh working conditions that lead them into early retirements. All while our Board sleeps and the casualties continue to mount.

It appears the entire Board has chosen to ignore our cries for help in what constitutes a hostile work environment, with employee safety concerns. This attitude and lack of concern leads to no other choice than pursuing a recall of each member of the Board.

And The Award Goes To...

To follow in the foot-steps of our great leader who rather look good than actually have any values or integrity, today’s posting is to recognize all that Ane Diester has done for the employees and ratepayers of El Dorado Irrigation District. Let’s take a moment to recap and award Ane for her amazing work and to highlight, in your own words, what she has accomplished since being hired.

Under the leadership of Ane Diester the District has:

1) Hired a friend to a high level paying position knowing his past criminal record. Once his past was brought to light paid him off with District funds.

2) Promoted another manager who she was told about having a past history of embezzlement. Then cried “poor me” when he actually got caught doing the same thing at EID.

3) Disbanded the Help Desk and outsourced the services to Progent. Costing rate payers more money and ignoring the purchasing policy of fair and equal opportunity.

4) Ignored and violated our MOU; a legal and binding contract between employees and management.

5) Allowed the District to be found guilty by PERBS for 60 reportable violations of the California Labor Law.

6) Spent millions of rate payer dollars on legal fees chasing after a law suite on the Tunnel.

7) Used rate payers’ funds to throw personal parties at her house for friends, paid employees with rate payer funds to do work at her house, and hired a personal assistant to drive her around and do her errands for her when she broke her leg.

8) Has allowed, and actively fosters, an environment of intimidation and threats against employees. Violating the District’s own Hostel Work Environment policy.

9) Continues to award employees for unethical and possibly illegal management practices.

10) Mistreat dedicated employees and has created an environment that has lead to moral being the lowest it has ever been in District history.

Let’s not forget that she has achieved all this while sporting a new car each year and getting a raise with each renewal of her contract.

If you are tired of the way things are at EID, and you want to take back the control over your work life from the likes of Ane Dieser, Deanne Kloepfer, Michele Weimer, Mary Lynn Carlton, Steve Setoodeh and Vicki Caulfield, than might I suggest one of the following:

LOW-LOW RISK OPTION:
Attend the next Association meeting. Start learning what your rights are and discuss with the Association what they are doing to actively change the environment at EID.

LOW RISK OPTION:
Go home tonight and email a friend or a coworker and let them know about this blog. Ask them to pass along the information to another friend. I realize most of us dislike SPAM mail, but this type of email, sent to friends and coworkers, will go a long way in letting the public know what is going on at EID.

MEDIUM RISK OPTION:
Contact a board member, a county supervisor, a state legislator, or a state governing agency and let them know about the illegal and abusive actions going on at EID. You are protected under the Federal and State Whistle Blower law. While this option will cause a few headaches in your life, the IT department has proven that you can prevail.

HIGH RISK OPTION (Only intended for the very brave):
Start saying NO! Say no to being threatened each and every day that you are at work. Let your supervisor and coworkers know that you will no longer tolerate being subjected to a hostile work environment and that you will no longer participate in their illegal actions.

Most of all I ask that you do something. For most people we tend to complain and grumble, but in the end we do nothing to effectively make a change in our life.

I leave you with a quote that I have used in the past:
No one in this world, so far as I know ... has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great massesof the plain people. H.L. Mencken